I loved Densha Otoko as well. And while it's campy as hell, I'm a fan of the Saiyuuki remake. Sure, it's more or less a spoof, but it's funny. I recently acquired Odoru Daisousasen, but haven't seen it yet. Oh, and the You're Under Arrest Live Action is always a classic.
I'm really just getting into J-Dramas, so I'll be checking out some of these here.

As for where to get your J-Drama (and K and C drama) fix.. http://www.jdorama.com/ is a good start for info and such, and http://www.d-addicts.com/ is where I get the majority of my torrents and subtitles. Quite a good lil community they have there.

hamsterfreak4evr wrote:for those of you in the united states, what channel do you get JDramas on or what stores rent/sell them?

Via satellite you can subscribe to TV Japan, which features NHK programming, for about $25 a month. If you live anywhere near a Korean video store or a Korean grocery with a video section, they often have some JDramas in addition to the KDramas.

lomagu wrote:I like Gokusen. It's funny. Actually, I've just started watching the first one, but I haven't seen the second. Also, Hana Yori Dango is good too. I think it's better than the anime version.

Well, I finished One Litre of Tears, and probably cried twice that much. I hate that. It was an awesome drama, definately at the top of the list.

Now I'm nearly through Gokusen. GTO fans might enjoy this take on the mobster schoolteacher idea, it's worth the watch.

As a note to people who haven't watched Japanese dramas... the biggest reason I find them so enjoyable is that they're (usually) a complete story in around 12 episodes. It's not like a daytime soap opera or other American dramas where the lives of the characters go on and on until ratings drop and the show gets cancelled.

If you haven't given dramas a try, DO IT. Plus, it will help your study of the language. Go ahead and check out Jdorama.com. It's a site full of reviews of japanese dramas. Once you know which ones you want to see, getting ahold of them could be as easy as amazon.com or ebay, or whatever.

We get it and enjoy it (watching Changumu now - Korean drama in Japanese), but it is a bit pricey. If you don't subscribe to other programming, you have to pay $5 extra I believe ($30). Also depending on your location, you may have to have 2 dishes to receive English programming also.

My only complaint is it doesn't have many bakabakashi programming. It is mostly NHK programming. But it shows the latest taiga dramas, mini dramas and special NHK programming. Also Sunday mornings they usually have one or two Asahi TV shows.

I really liked Densha Otoko, but I don't recommend the movie. I bought it on my last trip to Japan and have regretted it since...

Clay

Last edited by clay on Sun 05.28.2006 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

hamsterfreak4evr wrote:for those of you in the united states, what channel do you get JDramas on or what stores rent/sell them?

Via satellite you can subscribe to TV Japan, which features NHK programming, for about $25 a month. If you live anywhere near a Korean video store or a Korean grocery with a video section, they often have some JDramas in addition to the KDramas.

With a little know-how you can get TV Japan free.

Now, about that. How is it done? I would like to know please.

Well tonight I just got done with 1 litre of tears, and to tell you the truth.. It was..
AMAZING. I wasn't tearing up as much as I should have, or as much as anyone else would have, but I did grab my heart in shock a few times.. Ok, it was a lot of times, but it was that good. The dramatic irony was just too much. I loved it.

About those torrents at d-addicts.com, I did that last year sometime, but I just couldn't figure out how to work them. Don't you need a torrent player or some type of converter for those? I tried both. Didn't work.

I enjoy the taiga dramas, mostly. It started when I saw Hideyoshi(1996) with the incomprable Takenaka Naoto. Then Musashi(2003) with Ichikawa Ebizo XI (Shinnosuke, at the time) who was freakin' fantastic. Now I am watching Furinkazan(2007). My favorites are so far Hideyoshi and Musashi. I love seeing the same actors return for the latest drama (although I miss Watari Tetsuya as Nobunaga - haven't seen him in a while).

My wife tried to get me into Oshin(1983), but it didn't have enough swordplay for my tastes..